Sarah Sands: A family is about more than politics

Ed Miliband said the lessons his father had taught him were personal rather than political. Ralph Miliband had always made time for his sons. The Labour leader was struggling to apply these standards to his own sons

Ed Miliband: "We would behave differently if we knew what it was going to be like to lose parents" (Picture: Reuters)

The reason Ed Miliband’s joust with the Daily Mail won him sympathy was that he kept it simple: He was a son defending the name of his father. He did not broaden his argument much. Miliband was careful not to reflect on racism or immigration. I looked for leads in the fact that he was reading Robert Harris’s new novel about the Dreyfus Affair but the Labour leader did not want to discuss the role of the outsider, nor whether Left-wing intellectuals were unpatriotic.

During my interview with him last week, Ed Miliband said the lessons his father had taught him were personal rather than political. Ralph Miliband had always made time for his sons. The Labour leader was struggling to apply these standards to his own sons.

The row over his father’s lack of patriotism made the memories of Ralph Miliband, who died 19 years ago, more vivid to him. Ed also expressed regret over arguments. We would behave differently if we knew what it was going to be like to lose parents.

The issue had a resonance because people, particularly males, thought about their own fathers and what they had meant to them. The potency of a father’s influence over a son was of course the reason that the Mail first chose to profile Ralph Miliband. The mistake, apart from headline aggression, was to assume too black and white a view of humanity.

I have always had a soft spot for Hampstead Lefties, knowing their Utopian rage can be accompanied by humour, kindness and erudition.

I attended a memorial service this year for Eric Hobsbawm, to which, I am relieved to say, journalists were invited. There was no apology for his communist belief that a new world order was worth the mass loss of life to achieve it. But there was context. Hobsbawm, like Ralph Miliband, fought in the Second World War. He argued that this was as much a Utopian enterprise as communism — yet he was sickened by the reality of warfare.

Hobsbawm clearly did not hate Britain. He had dealt with the discrepancy between his revolutionary fervour and his contented way of life here with an ideological joke. "If you’re living in a ship that’s going down you might as well travel first-class.” It is surely a national virtue that we have a knack of turning former revolutionaries into old Hampstead darlings. Hobsbawm’s daughter Julia has been dragged into the Miliband row. She maintains that this is a private matter.

The lesson of the row is not about press regulation or standards in public life. It is about the difference between the private and public. The views of an influential academic are of legitimate interest but do not mistake them for the man. The Mail attacked an ideology. Miliband defended flesh and blood.

The cult of Carrie powers on

Sometimes you just have to make a choice, so I switched to Homeland on Sunday. Meandering social history is all very well but Downton Abbey could not match Homeland for sustained injustice doled out to the female heroine. Poor old Carrie is betrayed and abused by men and professional hierarchy. The blows of fortune crash down upon her and her puckered face cries out to our consciences.

Did a woman ever suffer so? Meanwhile, is everything tickety- boo for the women of Downton?

Our heroine: Claire Danes as Carrie Mathison in the new series of Homeland

The spirit of growth is so obvious now

The Chancellor takes a sanguine view of the politics of austerity. He believes, probably rightly, that the public’s low view of politicians means spending promises are sceptically received. The speeches about years of rationing and Dunkirk spirit play well with the public as well as the party faithful.

Business also appreciates the message that there is no money and that jobs are a privilege. The private sector particularly has been whipped into shape during this recession. “At least I have a job,” murmur employees as they blink at their pay freezes.

So the narrative of recovery needs to be controlled. One company chief told me his sector has been forged in recession but now he was confronting the restlessness of visible growth. His employees were being poached. Contracts were being argued over. Next, people will be complaining that they can’t get taxis and the restaurants won’t take bookings. I see company bosses might want to keep a lid on this but I feel spirits rising. I know, the party is over and we are still in hangover stage ( to repeat a most over-quoted metaphor) but can’t we return to Happy Hour on the quiet?

Fresh eyes on education

At Matthew d’Ancona’s book launch last night the reshuffle was being picked over. Some spirited women are on the up, including Anna Soubry as defence minister. She is said to be the strongest weapon the depleted armed forces now possess. Meanwhile, the interesting Labour move was Tristram Hunt to education. The political battle in education is radicals v the status quo: Hunt is an intellectual reformer. Tonight the Standard hosts a public debate in Westminster on education’s future. The shape of education has never been so exciting and up for grabs.